A photoacoustic apparatus, comprising: at least one optical amplifier, configured to produce light; at least one photonic integrated circuit, configured as a tunable light filter; light guiding means, wherein the at least one optical amplifier, at least one photonic integrated circuit and light guiding means are configured as an optical cavity to produce laser light having an optical path within the optical cavity; and at least one acoustic sensor configured to detect sound produced by analyte introduced into the optical path of the laser light.

Eyewear including a frame, a projector supported by the frame, and a lens supported by the frame. The lens has a first surface facing an eye of the user and a second surface facing away from the eye of the user when the frame is worn. The lens also includes a waveguide defined by the first and second surfaces to receive light from the projector. An input light coupler and an output light coupler are on the first surface of the lens and at least one reflector is positioned on a second surface of the lens to redirect light received from the input coupler and/or the output coupler to redirect light having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in that portion of the light exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the at least one reflector.

The invention relates to a device for coupling a flared laser source (10) and an output waveguide (3), comprising a coupler (20), a combiner (40), and a network of intermediate waveguides (30) located between the coupler and the combiner and comprising a correcting central section (S.sub.c) in which an effective index associated with the guided modes is adjusted so that the optical paths of the intermediate waveguides (30) between the coupler (20) and the combiner (40) are identical to one another.

Eyewear including a frame, a projector supported by the frame, and a lens supported by the frame. The lens has a first surface facing an eye of the user and a second surface facing away from the eye of the user when the frame is worn. The lens also includes a waveguide defined by the first and second surfaces to receive light from the projector. An input light coupler and an output light coupler are on the first surface of the lens and at least one reflector is positioned on a second surface of the lens to redirect light received from the input coupler and/or the output coupler to redirect light having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in that portion of the light exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the at least one reflector.

A probe structure includes a monolithically integrated waveguide and lens. The probe is based on SU-8 as a guiding material. A waveguide mold is defined using wet etching of silicon using a silicon dioxide mask patterned with 45° angle with respect to the silicon substrate edge and an aluminum layer acting as a mirror is deposited on the silicon substrate. A lens mold is made using isotropic etching of the fused silica substrate and then aligned to the silicon substrate. A waveguide polymer such as SU-8 2025 is flowed into the waveguide mask+lens mold (both on the same substrate) by decreasing its viscosity and using capillary forces via careful temperature control of the substrate.

An optical coupling may involve orienting a waveguide and a lens such that light rays are focused on a surface. The lens may involve the use of a material having a variable refractive index to focus rays of light along first axis and a curved surface to focus the rays of light along a second axis.

A planar immersion lens can include any number of features. A planar immersion lens can be configured to control a phase profile of an incident wave by modulating the incident wave with sub-wavelength structures of varying impedances. The planar immersion lens can also be directly excited, with electronics or other subwavelength sources coupled to the planar immersion lens, to generate a wave with the desired phase profile. The planar immersion lens can include a plurality of metallic elements and passive elements disposed over a substrate. The passive elements can be selected, based on both the intrinsic and mutual impedances of the elements, to shape the spatial phase profile of the incident wave within this phase range. The phase gradient can be introduced along the incident material/refractive material interface to focus the incident wave into the refractive material having wave components at or beyond the critical angle. Methods are also provided.

The invention relates to a device for coupling a flared laser source (10) and an output waveguide (3), comprising a coupler (20), a combiner (40), and a network of intermediate waveguides (30) located between the coupler and the combiner and comprising a correcting central section (S.sub.c) in which an effective index associated with the guided modes is adjusted so that the optical paths of the intermediate waveguides (30) between the coupler (20) and the combiner (40) are identical to one another.

A photonic neural network device may include a planar waveguide; a layer having a changeable refractive index adjacent to the planar waveguide; and a plurality of electrodes. Each electrode may be electrically coupled to the layer having the changeable refractive index at a corresponding location of the layer having the changeable refractive index. Each electrode may be configured to apply a corresponding, configurable voltage to the corresponding location to affect a refractive index of the corresponding location of the layer having the changeable refractive index to induce an amplitude modulation or a phase modulation of a light waveform propagating through the photonic neural network device to configure a corresponding neuron of the photonic neural network device in order to perform a computation.

A probe structure includes a monolithically integrated waveguide and lens. The probe is based on SU-8 as a guiding material. A waveguide mold is defined using wet etching of silicon using a silicon dioxide mask patterned with 45° angle with respect to the silicon substrate edge and an aluminum layer acting as a mirror is deposited on the silicon substrate. A lens mold is made using isotropic etching of the fused silica substrate and then aligned to the silicon substrate. A waveguide polymer such as SU-8 2025 is flowed into the waveguide mask+lens mold (both on the same substrate) by decreasing its viscosity and using capillary forces via careful temperature control of the substrate.